Niels Hansen Jacobsen

Thereafter, whenever the troll enters the castle, he cries: "I smell a Christian man's blood!"

Niels Hansen Jacobsen studied at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The recorded working language is Danish. Residence is recorded at Paris. Works named in the authority record are Skyggen. Work by Niels Hansen Jacobsen is recorded in the collections of Nationalmuseum, Statens Museum for Kunst and Vejen Art Museum. Distinctions recorded are Thorvaldsen Medal and Eckersberg Medal.

• Illustration — Trold, der vejrer kristenblod at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Niels Hansen Jacobsen was born and grew up on a farm in Vejen. He was the son of Carl Peter Jacobsen (1819-1903) and Anna Kirstine Hansen (1822–91). He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen between the years 1884–1888. At the Academy of Art, he received drawing lessons from Frederik Vermehren and Carl Bloch, while the sculptor Theobald Stein taught anatomy and Vilhelm Bissen in modeling. He debuted at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in 1889. He was awarded the Eckersberg Medal and a grant which led him to travel to Germany, Italy and France during 1891. In 1892, Hansen Jacobsen settled in Paris. From the mid-1890s, Hansen Jacobsen had also started working with ceramics. In 1902, Hansen Jacobsen returned to Denmark. In the years following his return to Denmark, a new field of work came to fill much in his production: cutting grave and memorial stones. In 1908, he returned to work on sculpture. In 1913, Hansen Jacobsen erected a studio at Skibelund Krat near Askov. Between 1923 and 1924, a museum was built for the works of Hansen Jacobsen at the site of his birthplace. The museum was inaugurated on 1 July 1924, and is today the Vejen Art Museum (Vejen Kunstmuseum). • Illustration — Vejen Kunstmuseum

Existential themes such as freedom and time affect Niels Hansen Jacobsen throughout much of his sculptures. With his imaginative and strangely symbolic sculptures, Hansen Jacobsen gave form to abstract phenomena such as death, night and shadow.

In 1891, he married Anna Gabriele Rohde (1862-1902). In 1908, he married Kaja Jørgensen (1882-1928). In 1936, he was awarded the Thorvaldsen Medal. He died during 1941 and was buried at Vejen Church.

• Illustration — Skyggen (1897–98) • Illustration — Dryaden (1918) • Illustration — Døden og moderen (1892) • Illustration — Bust of Jacobsen's mother • Illustration — Bust of Jacobsen's father

The authorities additionally record the headings Neils Hansen Jacobsen and Niels Hansen-Jacobsen. His recorded language was Danish. He married Anna Gabriele Hansen Jacobsen.

• Teresa Nielsen (2011) NHJ: Niels Hansen Jacobsen (Vejen Kunstmuseum) • Herman Madsen; Niels Th. Mortensen (1990) Dansk Skulptur (Odense: Skandinavisk Bogforlag)